On Reading

While I am still working on the post: Pets Part III; I thought I would throw this post into the blog...

I Love to read.
I just recently finished 'Angels and Demons' by Dan Brown; and am currently reading 'Digital Fortress' by the same author, and 'The Children of Hurin' by JRR Tolkien. All Excellent reading by the way......

I don't read books very often, hmmmmm that doesn't make sense does it?

Well, even though I love to read, I am an 'addictive' reader (otherwise known as a 'bookworm'); once I start a book, I can't put it down. For example, about 4 years ago, I read the first four Harry Potter books in three days (that is not 24 hours each day). I am terrible about reading, when I start, nothing else matters. Dave puts up with it once in awhile, but I doubt he would be very happy if I did it all the time.

When I was in grade school, junior high and high school, they used to have these book challenges. You raised money for charity by the number of books you read. Needless to say, I always did real good in these challenges. I read, comprehend and remember; but at a very fast rate. My total attention if focused on what I am reading; poor David can be talking to me and I not only won't hear what he is saying, but don't even realize that he (or anyone else for that matter) is even talking! I know that irritates him something awful. Sigh........

There is just something about reading a story; the use of your imagination, bringing the story to life in your mind from the words written on the page. I think that is why I am never really happy when they take a book and make a film of it. When you read a book, it becomes your personal story, because of the way 'you' interpret the words on the page; and rarely does the director or writers of the film have the same mindset that you do. I also am not really happy when they make books into films, because they always seem to change something, (which they think 'improves' on what the author originally intended), or to make it more 'marketable'.

I won't go into detail, but a classic example of what I am talking about is 'The Lord of the Rings Trilogy'. Overall, I was very impressed at how well the story was presented (in regards to the books), however they just couldn't make the film without tweaking the story and also deleting some very important scenes...Well, enough of that rambling. So back to my love of reading. I have a lot of favorite authors:

JRR Tolkien probably being at the top of the list; not just the 'Lord of the Rings' and the 'Hobbit', but Tolkien wrote so many other great stories; one of my absolute favorites being 'Roverandom', a story about a little dog who gets on the wrong side of a wizard, and his many adventures to return to his owner. I am also currently collecting and reading the 12 volumes of 'The History of Middle Earth'.
Lewis Carroll; Alice in Wonderland, and Through the looking glass; I love these stories.Still read them regularly. (And yes, I will see Tim Burton's version of the film)
Stephen King; I started reading his stories when he was under the pseudonym of 'Bachman', his stories are great, I love his ability to always have that struggle of 'good vs evil', no matter how sublime.
Agatha Christie; probably my greatest weakness, I have all of her books, and have reread them numerous times over the years.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Sherlock Holmes, my dad's copy of Sherlock Holmes had these really neat maps of London as the end papers. I remember using a pencil to mark Sherlock's paths through London as I read each of the stories.
Edgar Allen Poe: I have always loved all of his stories. If you are an EAP fan, you also might want to check out Alan Parson's Project "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", a fantastic CD where Alan Parson's has set some of EAP's stories to music.
Carolyn Keene; Probably the author that started me down the road to becoming a bookworm. By age 13 I had all of the Nancy Drew Mystery books and had read them cover to cover multiple times.
Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens; I love his short stories (with their wit and morals) and his novels too. One of my favorite short stories is 'The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg'.

Some of my other favorite authors include: Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Brothers Grimm, Michael Crichton, Chaucer, Shakespeare,Thoreau, PG Wodehouse, The Bronte Sisters......The list could go on and on.......but I will quit here.
As you can see; I have varied tastes in literature. I also enjoy reading books on Mythology, Religions and Science.

Reading has always been a great part of my life. I can't imagine a world without books. Films are fine, but to me they are more a visual stimulus (Sometimes even a visual overload!) whereas books I regard as more of a stimulus for the intellect and imagination.